“As a Buffalo Sabre, I always found “Mad Max” extremely frustrating to watch."

I’m a Sharks fan and don’t read this blog often. I stumbled upon it and in the 2nd sentence (pasted above) I thought YOU were in fact a member of the Sabres for a quarter-second. Ha!

“Kovalchuk and Afinogenov are the sizzle with their speed and passing and Antropov is the defensive conscious and the brute who forces turnovers and extends the life of shits in the offensive zone.”

Maybe we can call them the “Metamucil Line.” :)

Its an obvious point but for the last five years in Buffalo, Afinogenov never played a single minute with a fellow Russian forward (there were none) and the only Russians on the Sabres were the baleful Dimitri Kalinin (another Russian who ended up In Ruff’s doghouse) and Alexei Zhitnik, who people in Atlanta would regard as the poster child for sloth and lack of enthusiasm. Less obvious is the effect on Kovalchuk who I think is playing with more discipline and patience than I’ve ever seen, maybe because of maturity and maybe because of trust in his teammates, as you pointed out.

I have to admit that Afinogenov has far exceeded my expectations, but early on in the season he was doing about what I expected – lots of flash, few points. However, he was so cheap that there really was no risk in letting him play. Even if he was terrible, the cost was not much above the minimum salary. I thought that at absolute best he might get 20 goals and 30 assists, but he and Kovy and Antropov seem to have the kind of chemistry that makes them a potent force. If Max keeps it up and gets a multi year deal to stay here, good for him.

One of the problem with fans and some NHL front office people is that if a guy does something good or great once, he gets seen as always doing it. So Jason Williams, who has scored over 20 goals once in his career (he got 21 once), is seen as a “20 goal man” forever. Sure, he was a huge bust here, but at least DW only signed him for 1 year. He was worth a gamble and the team wasn’t on the hook long term when it failed. I doubt that Detroit is really happy with his production so far and I think that they had pretty realistic expectations of what he would do prior to signing him. I suspect that for the rest of his career that Williams will basically alternate seasons where he’d be a 20 goal man if he played a whole season and seasons in which he scores about 10 goals in full time play.

Erik Christensen is a complete bust and nobody is going to get anything useful out of him in the NHL. I think he’s actually gotten worse since leaving Atlanta and he was pretty bad here last season. He’ll be in the AHL permanently not later than next season.

The guy that just amazes me is Peverley. Seriously, how on earth do you miss that badly on a guy? Because we all know that Nashville is just so deep with gifted forwards that he just got lost there, so it’s not their fault – not. I saw Barry Melrose and EJ Hradeck comment on ESPN and they are the first media people to almost ask that question – how do you miss that badly on someone? They hinted at it without asking it. I was highly skeptical about Peverley at first, but I’m glad to be wrong. Another guy who has exceeded my expectations is Schubert. I need to work on damping down that skepticism.

For the record, I’m still skeptical. As much improved as the defense is, it still gives up too many shots. I’m still not sold on Pavs. His play last night was totally unacceptable. He’s got to find a way to stop the puck without going down as often as he does. Still, I’m happy to say, it’s once again fun to go to the game.

I became a Thrasher fan the minute Max was signed. And I’m in Rochester, just down the Thruway. I’ve purchased Center Ice to follow Max and also the Great 8. So far Center Ice has been worth every penny. I think Atlanta and Washington are the two most entertaining teams in hockey to watch. Buffalo, though they are winning, have become boring…the only really exciting thing about the Sabres is Kaleta.

I was one of the skeptics too about Afinogenov, but like other bloggers who have posted, We got him for a good deal.What I want to know is when is Antro, Kozy, Little going to play better?